NMPi and DQ&A to acquire creative specialist, Joystick

The forward-thinking acquisition will allow the global marketing group to bring together media, technology, and creative, enabling brands to achieve high quality customer experience and improve customer loyalty.

The announcement was made during the first day of The Cannes Lions Creative Festival, where the industry comes together to celebrate creativity in advertising and technology. It also follows NMPi’s 2017 global expansion into six new markets, including two offices in the US, as well as their recent acquisition of US boutique paid social specialists, MediaPact. With DQ&A also launching in South-East Asia, Australia, Africa and Italy, this only serves to strengthen the marketing group’s international presence and localised expertise.

“As data gives us a better understanding of the consumer and their online journey, we are seeing a rapid shift in the digital ecosystem. It’s no longer about choosing channels to run your marketing activity; now the spotlight is on creating a flawless experience for the consumer. This is exactly why we are focused on reinventing what it means to be a digital marketing specialist, and joining forces with Joystick is a major step in that journey, allowing us to offer a more complete service focused on end-to-end customer experience,” commented Luke Judge, CEO of NMPi.

Originally founded in the US, Joystick has a team of over 90 digital creative experts across five international offices, who focus on building digital creative advertising solutions and innovations. They bring with them an extensive clientele that includes Google, HBO, Disney and Kroger, adding to NMPi and DQ&A’s clients such as, L’Oréal, Papa John’s, Hanes, Freeview, Melia Hotels, and Samsung.

Joystick’s entire leadership team, including Sara Francis and Dave Rosowsky, will be remaining on post-acquisition. Sara and Dave have been elevated to CEO and COO respectively.

Sara Francis, CEO of Joystick commented on the agreement: “This is an exciting time for our businesses to come together as one strong force. The alignment could not be more perfect with what we do and where we want to go. We look forward to leading the way in digital innovation and collectively creating a compelling offering for clients.”

DQ&A is Google DoubleClick’s largest EMEA partner in the technology and professional services field. When combined with Joystick’s DoubleClick Creative Partner status, the acquisition forms a strengthened DoubleClick relationship, further solidifying its strategic offering and authenticity within the digital industry.

CEO of DQ&A, Mike Ossendrijver, added: “We saw a significant gap in the market for a solution that will enable our clients to enhance all aspects of the customer’s online media journey, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally close the marketing loop by combining technology, data, media, and now industry-leading creative services. Digital innovation is at the heart of NMPi and DQ&A, and this acquisition will bring further opportunities for us to drive development with the use of Joystick’s Innovation lab and its deep creative industry knowledge and partnerships.”

Owen Jenkinson, Marketing Director at Freeview commented, “The way we work as an industry has always been particularly siloed and segmented, which is often reflected in the consumer’s experience. If you reach them at the right place and at the right time but with the wrong creative, it just won’t work. That is why the acquisition of Joystick is so exciting for us as a business. It will allow us to deliver a creative online experience from the start of their journey to the end goal.”

This acquisition, which is being led by NMPi and DQ&A UK’s parent company, Net Media Planet Ltd., will take NMPi, DQ&A, and Joystick ’s business size to over 340 people in 16 locations including London, New York, Los Angeles, Cape Town, Singapore and Madrid. The acquisition is subject to standard completion procedures and is expected to complete within the month.

About NMPi

NMPi is an international, digital marketing agency with offices in the UK, US, Australia, Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Singapore, and Malaysia. NMPi has more than 15 years of experience delivering market-leading, global digital marketing strategies across Paid Search, Display, Paid Social and Analytics.

Having worked across a wide range of industries including fashion, retail, financial services and travel, NMPi experience offers advertisers advanced marketing strategy and implementation, informed by data and insights. NMPi’s impressive list of clients includes Harvey Nichols, Papa John’s, Samsung and Bonds.

The holistic approach to digital advertising combines innovative technology and a talented team of data-driven strategists and analysts, helping ambitious brands grow by unlocking opportunities by aligning channels to realise their true value.

For more information, visit their website: https://nmpidigital.com/

About DQ&A

With over 16 years of experience helping advertisers, agencies and publishers with making advertising technology work for their business, DQ&A specialises in implementing and maintaining digital marketing solutions and infrastructures for clients.

DQ&A helps clients to improve their digital marketing strategies by creating a blueprint for excellence in digital marketing. It has deep expertise in helping its clients with ad tech infrastructure, data management and integration, analytics and training and providing them with best-in-class digital marketing services and consultancy.

Originally a Dutch company, its digital marketing specialists have now spread across the globe, serving clients locally in 14 markets. Its empowers our partners with a truly global approach and a local touch.

About Joystick

Joystick has been producing digital ads for over a decade. It believes that quality is key and efficiency is fundamental. The creative agency has refined the production process to give its clients the most flexibility while being as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

Driven by its desire to become masters of the latest ad technology, it constantly pushes the limits by collaborating with partners who share its excitement for cutting-edge digital experiences.